Burning Love

by Debra Cowan

  "Do you think he could be setting these fires to make you look bad?"

  Terra's eyes widened. "That hadn't occurred to me. Do you think so?"

  "He's boiling over with bad blood toward you. Who better than a firefighter to get away with setting fires? Plus he'd have the added attraction of making you look bad for not solving them."

  Terra had never considered it. "You could have a point, but the job promotion happened four years ago. If the motive is revenge, why would he wait until now?"

  "I don't know. I just know it's another angle we should check."

  "If we're going to consider firefighters as suspects, it could be someone besides LeBass."

  "Got any other enemies?"

  "Not that I know of." She grimaced. "That's an ugly thought."

  "Having enemies?"

  "Yes. Plus the whole idea of a firefighter arsonist is creepy. Although I did read a story last year about two firefighters in New York state who were arrested for starting fires. They were trying to ensure their jobs."

  "There was also the firefighter in Colorado and the one in Arizona."

  "True."

  Denny stepped inside the room and handed Jack an eight-by-ten photo. "Here ya go, Detective."

  "Thanks, Denny."

  The man nodded, his gaze going to Terra. "Nice to meet you, Investigator."

  "You really helped us out here, Denny. We appreciate it."

  "You're welcome." He smiled shyly then left.

  Jack passed the photo to her. Terra thought the woman's features no more clear in the picture than they were on the screen, but the diamond clusters and shape of the butterfly ring were unmistakable. How could Jack have spied this before she had? She was the one familiar with this ring.

  "Ready?" he asked.

  She nodded, looking up to find him watching her steadily. Carefully.

  "You sure you're up for this? She won't be happy to see us."

  "You mean she won't be happy to see me. I'm ready." He'd asked twice if she were all right. Why was he being so solicitous? Did he want to make certain she was steady enough to deal with the upcoming interview and the nasty turn it was sure to take when they showed Cecily this photograph? "I can handle it, Jack."

  "I know, but if we need to take some time before we go talk to her, we can. If you want to regroup, we don't have to do anything until you're ready."

  "I'm okay." He wasn't patronizing her; he was being sincerely considerate. The same way he'd been last night when he had followed her out of Hotshots to check on her. And look where that had led. To a big mistake, according to him.

  "I'll be interested to see what Cecily has to say about the V.P.O.," she said. "And the fact that this is probably her standing outside Harris's house while it's burning."

  "Yeah, it should be interesting." That too-intense edge still lit his eyes.

  Heat crawled under her skin, but she ignored it. "Should we call to tell her we're coming?"

  "No."

  She wove her way among the detectives' desks and started down the stairs.

  He followed. "So, why do the firefighters call you 'Ace'?"

  She glanced at him over her shoulder. "The guys in my class gave me that nickname because I was the first girl to ax my way through a door during a drill."

  "Really?" He sounded impressed.

  She didn't turn to see. Once outside, he offered to drive.

  "I'll take my Explorer," she said. "Just in case I get a call or something." It was a legitimate reason, but she could tell that he understood she didn't want to ride with him.

  "Okay, I'll see you there."

  It took less than fifteen minutes to reach Cecily's house. Terra worked hard to keep all thoughts of Jack and that kiss out of her mind. Instead, she concentrated on tamping down the urge to strong-arm the woman when she came to the door, looking fragile and small in a shell pink sweater and slacks.

  "Detective?" She acknowledged Terra only with a glance.

  "Cecily, we've got some questions we need to ask you." Considering the steam building in her blood, Terra thought she sounded amazingly calm.

  "What kind of questions?" The woman's brown gaze shot daggers at Terra.

  Jack shifted so that his shoulder slightly blocked Cecily's view. "First, I need to read you your rights, Ms. Vaughn."

  "What! Exactly what are you doing here?"

  "Just asking questions," Jack said. "Ms. Vaughn, you have the right to remain silent."

  Terra barely kept from tapping her foot impatiently as he read Cecily her rights. She knew he was smart to do it. They didn't want any technicalities that Cecily might use later to get off.

  "Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you?"

  "Yes." The woman crossed her arms and smiled smugly. "You can ask whatever you want. I have nothing to say."

  "Not even about the victim's protective order Harris had issued against you?" Terra clenched and unclenched her fist in an effort to keep her voice level.

  Cecily stabbed an accusing finger at her. "He never would have done that if not for you."

  "We have proof you were outside Harris's house while it burned." Seething, Terra stepped up, her shoulder brushing Jack's.

  Shock flashed through the other woman's eyes, followed by panic.

  Terra thrust the picture at her. "You don't want to explain this?"

  Cecily glanced at the photo then looked at Jack, her lips firming. "I have nothing to say."

  Anger swept through Terra, hot enough to put a painful throb in her temple.

  Calmly, Jack said, "You'll have to come with me, ma'am. We need to talk to you at the station."

  "I already told you, I won't talk."

  "Fine, that's your right, but you will come with me." His voice turned hard and even Terra admitted he was intimidating. "Call your lawyer and have him or her meet you there."

  Cecily glared at Terra. "I'm not going anywhere with her."

  "No, ma'am. You're going with me."

  Terra had never wanted to drag someone by their hair, until now. The urge passed quickly, but she decided it was best to head for her SUV while Jack waited for the other woman to call her lawyer.

  She couldn't let Cecily upset her. She couldn't allow Jack Spencer to either.

  A couple of minutes later, Terra heard the front door slam and she turned to see Cecily walk sedately down the porch steps with Jack and quietly get into his unmarked police cruiser.

  "Meet you at the station?" He looked concerned, probably because he thought she was about to explode.

  "Yes. I'm right behind you." She slid behind the wheel of her Explorer and followed him out of the subdivision.

  She used the drive time to calm herself. If she were upset, she'd be no good during the interview. Thank goodness Jack was calm. He was a good partner. He had been the one to spot that ring, after all. Which bothered her, Terra admitted.

  She should've been the one to see it on the videotape. The kiss she'd shared with Jack must have distracted her more than she realized. Which was a good reason to forget it had ever happened. She wasn't letting hormones come between her and finding the serial arsonist who'd murdered her friend.

  She hadn't been able to compromise her job for Keith. She wasn't doing it for another man either.

  * * *

  Terra August was getting under his skin. He liked looking at her, liked listening to her, pretty much liked every damn thing about her. Despite the fact that he could tell she was teed off about last night. She wasn't rude toward him, but she was guarded. Jack hated that even though he knew better than to try and rectify it. Distance was good. If she were the one imposing it, all the better. He obviously couldn't be counted on to use his common sense.

  Cecily Vaughn didn't break her silence on the way to the police station. Which gave Jack too much time to think about Terra. Since that kiss last night, all he'd done was think. About the taste of her, the feel of her. When she'd shown up to view the videotape, he had barely been able to keep fr
om staring at the long sleek legs encased in denim, the firm curve of her bottom. He had put the mental brakes on hard during the watching of that videotape. Her sweet musky scent drifted softly around him, torturing and inviting at the same time.

  And he wanted to take. He wanted her with a fierceness he couldn't ever remember feeling before. Hell. His hand had clenched on the remote more than once when her scent slid into his lungs. When memories flashed through his mind of the feel of her breast in his palm, the urge to run his hands up under the cinnamon-colored sweater she wore today had him breaking out in a sweat.

  He might—might—be able to get past physically wanting her, but she intrigued him as well. She was a good investigator. She was the one who kept things professional between them, even while he was trying to figure out how. She hadn't let on about that kiss at all, not in the deep green of her eyes that had turned jade with passion last night, not in the skitter of her pulse. She'd been calm, businesslike. And wary.

  Jack knew that was for the best. It also annoyed the hell out of him. He didn't like the distance between them, even though he should've been the one to put it there. In the harsh light of day, Terra might feel he'd taken advantage of her last night. Maybe he had, but just the memory of the way she'd met him kiss for kiss made his body harden. Still, she'd been through an emotional shredder yesterday.

  He remembered being filled with a rawness after Lori's death, the desperation to feel something. Anything. That was probably why Terra had kissed him with such abandon, such surrender.

  With a jolt, he realized he had reached the police station. He parked and led Cecily to the front door where Terra met them. Neither woman spoke, which didn't surprise Jack, but it did underscore how different things were between him and Terra today. Not exactly awkward, but definitely not comfortable.

  Still, she partnered up with him during the interview with no hint that anything was wrong. As though they'd done this before, she let him lead, putting the pressure on Cecily exactly when he would have, backing off when he would have. His respect for her grew and Jack knew he could be in serious trouble if she showed the slightest interest in pursuing what had happened between them last night.

  The cool remoteness in her eyes when she looked at him made it clear she wasn't pursuing it.

  Professional distance was one thing. Distrust was another. He had to find out exactly which one he was dealing with. Judging by the glint of stubbornness he'd seen in her eyes more than once, he knew he would have to be the one to clear the air between them. To investigate this case, they had become a team.

  While they were boxed into the interview room with Cecily and her attorney, Terra managed admirable control. Despite the emotion trembling beneath her questions, she kept her voice even. But two hours later, Cecily had given them nothing new. Terra held it together, but he could read the anger swirling in her eyes, turning them a deep stormy green.

  How could she not be upset? They'd caught Harris's ex-wife violating a protective order and busted her alibi, but they couldn't prove she had anything to do with his murder or the fire. A couple of times, he had wanted to smash his fist through a wall. Terra had to feel the same level of frustration.

  Finally they were forced to allow Cecily to leave with her attorney. A few minutes later, Terra said her goodbyes as well.

  He walked with her out to the parking lot, noting the fury in her clipped strides. In the short time they had been left alone, Jack had picked up on an unmistakable skittishness in his fire investigator. She stayed several feet away from him and the rigid set of her shoulders told him she expected him to respect the invisible barrier she'd put between them.

  "Well, that was like spitting into a high wind," she said with disgust. "The only thing Cecily admitted was violating the protective order, and that was just because we had a picture of her doing it."

  "We'll keep digging. We'll find something."

  "I hope you're right. Even knowing she was there, I have a hard time believing she could do this to Harris." Her voice shook. "How anyone could."

  She took out her keys and turned when she reached her vehicle. The midafternoon sun burnished her hair to golden fire. "If she doesn't have anything to hide, then why doesn't she talk?"

  He shook his head. "We can't hold her, but we can keep asking questions. Like does she have a prescription for Halcion?"

  "And did anyone ever hear her threaten to kill Harris?"

  "Right."

  "The thing that really bugs me is that she stayed in the shadows while Harris's house burned."

  "If she loved him as much as she says, why didn't she run for help? Try to call 9-1-1?"

  Terra nodded. "Or why didn't she panic?"

  "Maybe she didn't know Harris was inside."

  "Still, I'm a trained firefighter and I had to learn to remain calm around a blaze. I know she explained that she arrived after the firefighters were already on the scene, but she just stood there. It's pretty convenient that she arrived just before the video camera was set up."

  "I agree, but we can't prove she didn't."

  "Right." Her features darkened.

  "There's a whole lot about her I don't like. We'll keep after her until we find something."

  "Do you think we will?"

  "That's our job." He grinned, hoping to coax a smile out of her. Maybe get her to relax her guard just a bit. He didn't get either.

  She was wound tight, from the top of that gorgeous head to the soles of her leather loafers. Tension pulsed from her.

  "I thought you were going to blow a gasket in there," he said. "You sure you're okay about all this?"

  "I don't like it, but I'm dealing with it." She opened her door and he decided to just go for it.

  "Terra, there's something we need to talk about."

  She stopped, frowning as if she really had no idea what he could want.

  "About last night?" he prodded.

  In a heartbeat, her face changed from animated and slightly flushed to cool, composed. Her eyes went flat. "Oh, the mistake?"

  Ouch. "I shouldn't have put it that way."

  "If that's the way you feel—"

  "It isn't. It is. Wait." He held up a hand. "I wasn't trying to take advantage of you."

  "I didn't think you were," she said firmly, carefully. Stepping away from her vehicle, she shut the door. "I did kiss you back, remember?"

  As if he could ever forget. "That kiss wasn't a mistake because of you."

  Her eyebrows arched.

  He tried again. "I liked it. More than liked it. You aren't the problem."

  "I didn't see anyone else standing there."

  His gaze slid over her. Even now, he wanted to reach out and take more of what he'd had last night. "It's me. I'm the problem."

  "Really?" She folded her arms and leaned against her truck with a this-had-better-be-good look on her face.

  "I have a problem with your…"

  "With what?"

  He waited, long enough to put suspicion in her eyes. "Too distracting. You're damn distracting."

  "Back at you."

  He grinned, then shook his head. "So what are we going to do?"

  She didn't answer immediately. Instead her gaze shifted, focused on the empty parking lot. "Our jobs?"

  "Yeah?"

  "Look, you're a good cop and I like working with you. I want you to help me catch this torch." She met his gaze straight on. "But I don't want things to be weird. If that…if what happened last night is going to be something you can't handle, just let me know."

  "No, I can handle it. Even if I couldn't, it's not like either of us can bail now."

  "That's right. So, let's keep things professional."

  "Just partners." He wished like hell he could stop thinking about the sweet dark taste of her. The hot satin feel of her mouth on his. The weight of her breast in his hand.

  "Just partners," she said.

  "Okay, deal."

  They shook on it and she got in her vehicle to drive away.
Jack stood watching until her taillights faded from view. He should have told her about Lori, should've told Terra why he couldn't get involved with another woman in a dangerous profession.

  But she had said business only, and he agreed. Last night, it had been the vulnerability in her eyes, the raw loss that had moved him to take her in his arms, but it was the feel of her body against his that had scrambled his brains. He'd shifted into a mode where he cared only about easing the trembling in her body, finally tasting the lips that he'd wanted to taste the first time they'd met. His body had taken over, but it hadn't been long before his head caught up. He couldn't risk opening his heart to another woman whose chances for risk were higher than the wife he'd lost.

  Terra August was the one woman who tempted him to do it. The need she'd ignited in him had made Jack question his own rules about getting involved with a woman in a dangerous job. From now on, he had to keep his hands to himself.

  Chapter 8

  Jack had managed to keep his hands off Terra for four days. He hadn't actually seen her during those four days, but as far as he was concerned, he got points for not touching her.

  As he drove to the Channel Four studios in Oklahoma City to meet her, he told himself he could stick to the agreement they'd made on Sunday at the police station. Business only. Still, he couldn't deny that the urge to nudge things over the line to personal chipped away at his reservations about the risks of her job. Spending time together had shown Jack that the risks Terra faced were about equal to his.

  Which only made the desire burn hotter. In fact, respect and passion overlapped too much for his peace of mind.

  She was a good investigator, despite the added baggage of knowing and being close to the murder victim. She thought things through, kept her mind open to all possibilities. The trouble she'd had controlling her anger toward Cecily Vaughn's antagonism would've been experienced by anyone. Jack knew plenty of cops who wouldn't have been able to keep their cool as well as she had. Maybe himself included.

  Besides looking like something he'd dreamed up, she was sharp, intelligent and levelheaded. It would take a better man than him to keep his thoughts strictly on business.